


A Hero's Return

by TimMcGee



Category: Not Another D&D Podcast (Podcast)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Spoilers, Spoilers for End of Campaign 1, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24117400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimMcGee/pseuds/TimMcGee
Summary: Getting left behind is still as frightening and stressful as leaving to fight in the Final Battle. Or the Finale gave me everything but the Kindleaf reunion, so I wrote it.
Relationships: Beverly Toegold V & Egwene Kindleaf, Egwene Kindleaf & Erlin Kindleaf
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	A Hero's Return

**Author's Note:**

> OMG I HAD PLANS TO WRITE OTHER FICS BUT THE FINALE KILLED THEM ALL EXCEPT THIS ONE.
> 
> Seriously, I loved everything that happened in the finale, but I was so sad when we didn't get to hear the Kindleaf's reunion. 
> 
> This has been an amazing podcast and seriously changed my life for the better since I started listening to it way back in October 2018, I can only hope I do the characters justice writing these fics.
> 
> Egwene may seem a bit out of character but like a LOT has happened to her in a short period of time and everyone reaches a breaking point.
> 
> Shout out to my wonderful and lovely editor, who called me just to yell at me for making her cry reading this.

Egwene collapses hard against the rough brick surface of a chimney, the discomfort not even registering as she struggles to quell her panic. She had to get out of there. The tense, awkward atmosphere in the Great Hall where the families of the Heroes of Bahumia had gathered was too much for Egwene’s nerves as various members swung wildly from hopeful to hopeless.

The breaking point for her wasn’t Jaina’s anxious pacing, wasn’t Lucanus’ chilly vigil, wasn’t MeeMaw’s quiet comfort, it was just some random passing students’ cynical comment about ‘putting their faith in a paladin of a dead god’. Egwene shakily breathes out, sliding down the side of the chimney to sit on the roof and pulls her knees up to hide her face as the student’s comment then his shout of pain plays over and over in her mind. 

She doesn’t regret punching him, she regrets not aiming for a more painful area instead of the gut-punch she threw as she fled, ignoring the calls from behind. Egwene isn’t sure how long she ran for till she eventually lost  her Bev’s concerned friends and found her way on top of this dormitory, but it must’ve been a couple of hours as the streets have emptied of the previously celebrating crowds.

Egwene brings her head up, resting her chin on her knees as she curls up even tighter to stare out at the storm in the direction they had disappeared, letting the tears run down her face. Trying to keep her mind blank as she sucks in wet, shuddering breaths barely containing the sob that desperately wants to break out, a technique previously well mastered years ago, but failing at this moment.

As time achingly keeps on passing by with little change to the storm outside, Egwene prays to a god she hasn’t believed in for years, prays to Melora, prays to Hell, prays to anyone that will listen to keep both of her brothers safe, to let them come back, to let them live long and happy lives. Then she gets an answer.

“We are here. We are here for you.”

At first, Egwene freezes at the sound of a godlike voice in her head but then she recognizes Beverly’s voice. Egwene can only laugh and laugh and laugh till the laughter turns to sobs at how fucking  _ kind _ her little brother is. How even as he heads into the most terrifying battle of his life, Beverly still reaches out to comfort others, to give them hope, to gift them the strength to believe in a tomorrow.

Eventually, Egwene gets a fragile hold on her emotions and wipes away the wetness left on her face from all the tears. Uncurling and slowly stretching out her limbs first as she sits on the roof then again as she stands unsteadily, Egwene picks up her carelessly dropped bow and looks out at the ruins of Iron Deep.

The ruins of Iron Deep. Egwene stares vacantly at the ruins, not quite processing what she’s actually seeing till people start running into the streets and elatedly talking. The storm has abated somewhat, the dark and ominous clouds still loom overhead but the pounding rain and the ferocious wind are completely gone. Egwene grips her bow so hard the metal seems to groan in distress from the force as hope begins to win the war with her pragmatism.

This is it. They’re fighting Thiala. They could be  _ winning _ . Egwene watches as the clouds steadily lighten from a dark black to a charcoal grey to a light grey till finally, she can just pick out the sky behind the clouds. 

The parting clouds reveal the sky for the first time in 40 days and Egwene is shocked by how….ordinary it looks. There’s no giant pulsating rift, there’s no unending darkness, there’s no swirling mass of colors. It’s just a dull blue. Like a child’s painting of the sky. Just blue.

Egwene doesn’t know how long she stands at the edge of the roof, just drinking in the remarkably unremarkable sky, but the sound of Jaina calling up to her jolts her out of the reverie she was in. Looking down, Egwene spies the worried face of Jaina as she gazes up at Egwene seemingly standing precariously at the edge of the roof. Just as Egwene goes to shout back that she’s fine, there’s an ungodly  **CRACK** followed by a roar so thunderous, Gladeholm itself shakes with the reverberation.

Egwene drops gracelessly on her butt as she clutches the roof as it sways, and stares in horror at the sky. The previously blue sky now looks as though the night sky is bleeding through unseen cracks. Then lightning ripples out from points across the sky in such a similar way to skipping stones across calm water.

Scrabbling up to the roof’s peak, Egwene straddles it as she watches in open horror as the wall between this plane and the plane they must currently be fighting on, weakens with every unnatural  **CRACK** and splintering step of lightning. She doesn’t know how long they all watch the sky steadily rip itself apart, but there’s a moment of unnatural stillness. No screams of terror, no cries of desperation, no sound is heard.

Then a streak of brilliant starlight drops from the starry plane, rocketing down to Bahumia, and as the people below begin screaming in terror, Egwene prays for it to be quick as she closes her eyes. But the explosion she expects never comes, instead there’s just the cries of relief from the people.

Cautiously opening her eyes, Egwene blinks in surprise that Bahumia is still standing, there’s no giant plume of fire, no giant crater, just the fracturing sky above. Then the ground cracks. As Egwene stares in shock at the ground splitting below like the sky above, she realizes with a jolt that she’s the only one aware of what’s happening below due to her vantage point.

Then 4 smaller streaks of starlight drop from above, following the same path as the one before they also disappear into the horizon. There’s a moment of stillness as neither the earth or sky seems to be opening up, then the booming  **CRACKS** start coming from the earth. Egwene watches the people below frantically try to find where the bleeding sky is breaking and realizing no one can see that the battle has shifted to below them, Egwene screams at Jaina, “IT’S THE EARTH, JAINA! THEY FELL TO THE EARTH!”

By the time Jaina climbs up the building and reaches where Egwene is perched, the earth is shaking, cracking, and rolling like it did 40 days ago, and it’s only the fact that Gladeholm is floating that they’re not feeling anything. Egwene reaches her hand out to Jaina and Jaina grasps it in her own, giving a supportive squeeze as they watch the world be torn apart again.

**BOOM**

The earth and sky shudder once before stilling. As Egwene and Jaina squeeze each other’s hands, they watch the strange lightning crackle out, but the world still trembles, cracks still form, and the sky still bleeds.

Then everything stops.

The sky starts healing. The earth mends. Wildflowers bloom and sunshine warms the valley. They did it. They fucking did it.

Egwene screams in exhilaration, whipping around and hugging a shocked Jaina who freezes briefly before returning the victory cry and hug. Releasing Jaina, Egwene stands up and drinks in the healing world, basks in the sunshine, and breathes.

As victory cheers begin echoing across Gladeholm, Egwene looks eagerly towards the horizon where the Heroes had sailed off just a few mere hours ago, but she doesn’t even have the chance to feel disappointed as something inside her changes. Egwene’s brow furrows in confusion as a connection deep inside her blossoms back into life.

A portion of the cheering crowd also stops in confusion, many unconsciously raising a hand up to rest just beside their heart. Then a brilliant burst of sunlight lights up Bahumia, bringing a wave of new growth on the earth below and the scent of the salty ocean breeze in the air. Pelor is  _ alive _ .

People begin celebrating even harder as the news spreads that the Heroes of Bahumia brought back Pelor, they  _ won _ , Thiala is defeated and peace can grow. Egwene and Jaina quickly climb down and look for the rest of their friends and family, eager to share in the relief, joy, and worry.

The world is safe, but what about their family.

As the first hour quickly blends into the second and third before slowly ticking into the fourth and fifth, Egwene watches the smiles on their faces steadily grow smaller as she feels the joy fade into grief. Why was it taking so long? 

As the 6th hour starts to creep into a 7th, as the celebration rages on, as their worry turns into dread, a horn sounds from the distance. The Heroes have returned. Everyone races towards the docking station, quickly filling the square before any of the family is able to make it to the dock. Egwene quickly ditches fighting through the crowd instead heading for the fountain in the center so she can just watch them come in.

Climbing to the top of the fountain, Egwene spies the rest of the family reaching the front of the crowd where they stand anxiously awaiting the ship’s arrival. There’s a moment when the ship docks and the crowd goes silent as the walkway is lowered and the crew begins making their descent where the setting sun bolts out a clear view of the Heroes leaving only their silhouettes.

Egwene quickly picks out the towering figures of Hardwon and Moonshine, then the unconscious forms of Ulfgar and Alanis in their arms as they descend down the walkway, and lastly two Halfling forms...Egwene’s heart drops. There should be three Halflings coming back but there’s only two coming off the ship.

Erlin...Erlin isn’t...He didn’t… Egwene is frozen as tears begin streaming down her face as she realizes that Erlin isn’t coming home, he isn’t being carried off the ship in one of their arms. If Ulfgar and Alanis are in that bad of straights, there’s no way her little baby brother would be coming off that ship under his own power.

As Egwene’s world begins to shatter, Beverly steps below the sunlight looking absolutely wrecked. Egwene keeps watching Bev descend, needing to make sure he makes it to solid ground before she flees to grieve alone. Beverly hops off before he makes it all the way down and turns back to help the next person finish descending like a proper gentleman, like everything is fine in the world. Then Egwene looks at the person.

She flings herself off the fountain, hitting the ground running as a scream of joy, anger, grief, and love parts the crowd as they all scramble out of the way of the terrifying scream. The tired Heroes of Bahumia grasp for their weapons at the sound, just barely spotting the tear-filled face of Egwene before she plows into Erlin and Beverly.

Erlin and Beverly both yelp in surprise and pain from the force of Egwene’s hug and hitting the ground. They don’t even have a chance to do anything before Egwene’s yanking them upright and hugging them tight all the while pressing kisses on their cheeks, foreheads, anywhere she can reach, “You’re ok. You’re both ok. Thank Pelor. I can’t believe- I thought you were- Beverly I can’t- Erlin I love you so much. Gods, you fuckers are gonna send me to an early grave. Oh my god, you fucking did it. You really fucking did it.”

“Eg-Egwene?!? What-?”

“I didn’t SEE you, Erlin! I didn’t see you- I thought you were dead!”

“Egwene, you know I would never let that happen! I-”

“Just shut up, Bev. Just-just let me hug my brothers, ok?”

“Brothers? What-”

“Babe, just hug her!” Erlin nudges a baffled Bev as Egwene tightens her hold on them, burying her face in their hair, basking in the fact that they fucking did it, and they fucking lived. Egwene can’t find it in herself to put up any front as Moonshine happily wraps herself around them and lifts them up in a tight hug calling Hardwon over to join.

“Oh, youngins’! Let’s hug it out! Come on, Hardwon! One Big Hug!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone for your kudos and comments.
> 
> Next day when everything has calmed down,  
> "......So little brother, huh?"  
> "Shut up, Weirnerly."  
> "Aaaaaaw loooooove you toooo, Egwene! AAAAA!" Beverly takes off running as Egwene chases him with intent to 'kill'.
> 
> Come find me on Tumblr @hey-cabinets-i-changed-my-icon, I don't post too much but I'd love to chat any and all naddpod/rqp/dads podcasts.


End file.
